Tuning In To Kids

Tuning in to kids.

Worrell donates time and talents to create custom music therapy carts for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota are run by some of the worlds most renowned pediatric specialists in the world, and are known for their uncommon attention to patient and family experience. Worrell has a history of working with the hospital on special projects that improve care, but to date has never had a project commissioned by a 13-year-old. Mason Stoltz turned an Eagle Scout Project into a full-blown re-invention of Children’s Hospital’s Music Therapy program and captured backing from Children’s, Best Buy and a team of Worrell’s designers.

Music Therapy is a well-studied practice, made up of credentialed therapists who use songs, instruments, and movement as the catalyst for healing and therapy. In the last 30 years, it has demonstrated the ability to improve healthcare outcomes while creating measurable gains in patient satisfaction surveys.

For his project, Mason, a member of Children’s Hospital’s Youth Advisory Council, transformed a personal experience with music therapists – his younger sister had two significant encounters at the hospital – into a well-articulated PowerPoint presentation shared with the Children’s executives. In it, Mason laid out a vision to reimagine the music carts and tools commonly used by the music therapists. Children’s paired his vision with community support, which began with a financial donation from Best Buy paying for the cart’s materials and electronics. Worrell donated all of the research, product design, and engineering, as well as built the carts for both the Minneapolis and St. Paul hospitals.

By including Mason in the steps of the product development process, Worrell’s design team learned to create through the eyes of a child. The result was something special – an elegant cart, a stronger Music Therapy program, and a new model for design collaborations in healthcare where the child’s experience influences the entire design process.

The Children’s Music Therapy program is fully funded by private donation.